MAC vs. C-USA

[ZachTheZip]

I'm putting this on the Football board, but it would apply to all sports. What option would you rather see Akron take, if given the opportunity?

Please explain your reasoning, and how it would most benefit the four main sports at Akron: Men's Soccer, Football, Men's Basketball, and Women's Basketball.

[vmd9]

I'm putting this on the Football board, but it would apply to all sports. What option would you rather see Akron take, if given the opportunity?

Please explain your reasoning, and how it would most benefit the four main sports at Akron: Men's Soccer, Football, Men's Basketball, and Women's Basketball.

CUSA is a million times better and would be more national exposure. They have teams all over the eastern states. Memphis would be a better rival than Can't...

[skip-zip]

I'm putting this on the Football board, but it would apply to all sports. What option would you rather see Akron take, if given the opportunity?

Please explain your reasoning, and how it would most benefit the four main sports at Akron: Men's Soccer, Football, Men's Basketball, and Women's Basketball.

CUSA is a million times better and would be more national exposure. They have teams all over the eastern states. Memphis would be a better rival than Can't...

I don't see the possibility that a rivalry could ever develop that would reach the level of the Ken+/Akron rivalry for us. But, I do agree with you that, contrary to what some people say on here, C-USA would be a pretty good upgrade. Unfortunately, I think that any conference upgrade like that would require us to have Marshall-like football success from their MAC days, or Butler-like basketball success.

[Zips fan]

I don't see the upside to joining C-USA. Now that Memphis is not a basketball power, what do they offer. Their basketball is similiar to the MAC and any football program gets a bowl bid for 7 wins in both conferences. The ability to travel becomes much more difficult for fans and our poor attendance will receive almost no visiting fans. I don't want to play SMU, UTEP, Houston, and Tulane. Akron needs to step up, but C-USA does not offer Akron better opportunities, it offers more travel for the team and less travel for fans. I would rather stay in the MAC than C-USA. A conference like the Big East offers different opportunities not available to the MAC or C-USA. I would love to move toward the Big East but not C-USA.

[MaxZIP]

I don't see the upside to joining C-USA. Now that Memphis is not a basketball power, what do they offer. Their basketball is similiar to the MAC and any football program gets a bowl bid for 7 wins in both conferences. The ability to travel becomes much more difficult for fans and our poor attendance will receive almost no visiting fans. I don't want to play SMU, UTEP, Houston, and Tulane. Akron needs to step up, but C-USA does not offer Akron better opportunities, it offers more travel for the team and less travel for fans. I would rather stay in the MAC than C-USA. A conference like the Big East offers different opportunities not available to the MAC or C-USA. I would love to move toward the Big East but not C-USA.

I agree that traveling to most away games is not an option. It is great to be able to travel 2 or three times a year to away games. I also agree that bringing in UTEP, Houston, Tulane and So. Miss regularly as part of a conference schedule does little to draw interest from the ever elusive “Joe Akron”. I do believe however that scheduling some CUSA, Sunbelt, and WAC teams for home and homes would go far in confirming the MAC’s standing in the hierarchy of FBS football conferences. We might not be high right now either by perception or through years of self loathing. Playing only BCS nonconference games and MAC conference games does little to draw attention to the program. The MAC commissioner needs to get together with the commissioners of other non-BCS conferences to get the scheduling gates open. I believe that the top 5 teams would be competitive with the top 5 of C-USA, WAC, and Sun Belt. The MAC is the Big-10 of non-BCS conference. Winning some of the games would go a long way to gaining national credibility. National credibility based on consistent performance against comparable PROGRAMS (Funding, enrollment, fan base) is how we move up faster than a few big upsets spread over 10 years.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I don't see the upside to joining C-USA. Now that Memphis is not a basketball power...

They're not quite dead yet.

Memphis basketball was around long before Calipari, and their massive basketball bankroll & Fed Ex Forum says they won't be "down" long.

[vmd9]

Traveling to games would be a lot better if we were in C-USA. You're telling me weekend trips to Athens and Oxford are better than Houston, Orlando, Memphis, El-Paso, and Dallas? that's crazy! no one wants to go to away games in some of these ghost towns MAC schools are located in.

[Dr Z]

Traveling to games would be a lot better if we were in C-USA. You're telling me weekend trips to Athens and Oxford are better than Houston, Orlando, Memphis, El-Paso, and Dallas? that's crazy! no one wants to go to away games in some of these ghost towns MAC schools are located in.

I know more than a few from ZN that drive to many away games including Athens & Oxford. It's fun to tailgate & watch the Zips play football away. I highly doubt many board members have the budget to follow the team to Houston, Orlando, Memphis and Dallas. One advantage of the (current) MAC.

[UA Fan]

I don't want to play SMU, UTEP, Houston, and Tulane.

I'm sure they don't want to make trips to Akron, either, to play football for 9900 fans. I think it's more likely the MAC stays intact than CUSA, if the dominos start falling.

[xu9697]

If Big Ten goes to 16, C-USA will not only melt into the Big East (what is left of it), but a school like Houston very easily could find itself in the PAC 12 to 16 discussion or the "new" Big 12 (consisting of 14 to 16 teams).

Fact of the matter is, many of these conferences may be unrecognizable from what we know now in, say, 2014/15 (I think that is when the BCS TV deal is done).

Personally, as best we can, I would like to stay with Buffalo, Temple, Toledo in a conference that has more eastern teams and possibly some southern teams. At this point, we are all waiting on the Big 10.

[zip37]

I don't think that we will get an invite!

[Spin]

MAC all the way. There are too many natural rivalries, too many schools that are an easy road trip away.

And despite the hype, C-USA is little more than MAC South. As far as football goes.

Basketball, that's a different animal. IMO you make a name for yourself in the NCAA tournament by going rounds. With a 65 team tournament, you follow the path of least resistance to get there. The MAC.

Now with a 96 team tournament, I might look at the RPI that you could build up in C-USA. KD would be forced into scheduling schools with a higher RPI than we're playing, and they would automatically come here. A decent RPI will get you in a 96 team tourney.

I would still stick with the MAC. Just take the easier road to the automatic bid and don't sweat the selection politics. Keep the rivalries.

Build yourself into a powerhouse, and then move into a REAL conference. Like Cincinnati. Afterall, what has the lateral move to the C-USA done for Marshall? USF?

[Captain Kangaroo]

Build yourself into a powerhouse, and then move into a REAL conference. Like Cincinnati. After all, what has the lateral move to the C-USA done for Marshall? USF?

Several teams from CUSA have made the jump to a BCS conference...including Cincinnati. Meanwhile, none have moved up from the MAC.

USF? They're in the Big East. Things have worked out well for them.

Depending upon how things shake out, I'm guessing Marshall will be in much better shape to ascend conferences than any MAC program. The move to CUSA didn't hurt them. It was a great interim move.

And...Marshall fans get to watch teams like SMU, Houston, Memphis, etc instead of EMU, K.e.n.t. and Ball State.

Zips -- Move to CUSA tomorrow if at all possible.

[ZachTheZip]

I held off giving my opinion for a while, but here it is.

It's a somewhat lateral move for football, competitively. But C-USA football has a better atmosphere and more respect. They have better football stadiums, and their teams have a better chance to move up to the BCS. The teams are for the most part interesting regional teams, not a majority of directional schools located in the middle of nowhere.

In basketball it's a major step up. If there's ANYBODY who would even try to argue that the MAC would be better for Zips basketball, men's or women's, I would love to hear what kind of insane rationalization you come up with.

In Soccer, just look at the RPIs. It's at a whole other level. We would finally have decent conference competition with Tulsa.

It's not even close. C-USA by a mile. Even if they lose a few teams to the BCS in a re-alignment, they are still ahead of the MAC and they get that reputation of being a conference where BCS teams come from.

[akronkid8]

Zips -- Move to CUSA tomorrow if at all possible.

i agree with you completely.. the MAC is not that great at football.. at all. you can argue and say Central Michigan was in the top 25.. but 1 team? and i don't know my MAC history but it's probably the first time in a long time anyone in the MAC has been in the top 25. If there is a chance we could move up into another conference then i say do it now. but i don't see that happening with us going under .500 every year. we play teams like Indiana and Syracuse who are terrible for the rest of the NCAA football teams but we some how seem to lose those. we need to win in the MAC first to think about trying to play in what could be left of the big east with actual good teams.

[Z.I.P.]

Bottom line of Zach's and others argument continues to be: Bigger is Better!

Not!

And finally: For the sake of discussion

[skip-zip]

I held off giving my opinion for a while, but here it is.

It's a somewhat lateral move for football, competitively. But C-USA football has a better atmosphere and more respect. They have better football stadiums, and their teams have a better chance to move up to the BCS. The teams are for the most part interesting regional teams, not a majority of directional schools located in the middle of nowhere.

In basketball it's a major step up. If there's ANYBODY who would even try to argue that the MAC would be better for Zips basketball, men's or women's, I would love to hear what kind of insane rationalization you come up with.

In Soccer, just look at the RPIs. It's at a whole other level. We would finally have decent conference competition with Tulsa.

It's not even close. C-USA by a mile. Even if they lose a few teams to the BCS in a re-alignment, they are still ahead of the MAC and they get that reputation of being a conference where BCS teams come from.

BINGO !!!!

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

How old and tired are the predictable "dead horse" comments in many of the threads on ZN? I don't suppose that the same posters who feel compelled to invoke that term, usually including the inane emoticon, ever consider that they are insulting not only the OP but those who respond to the OP? How many original topics can possibly exist in the universe regarding Zips football?

Now, onto the OP's poll. As much as I wish this were a credible D-1 football program, there is no way in hell that UA gets invited to join any other conference. C-USA is too good for the program at this point in time. Every D-1 conference that we would want to have us should have no interest in having us. This is a program that in year two of the new stadium hasn't gotten its poop together enough to open up the team shop that is right out on the street corner. The stadium itself is another boarded up store front? How about this program win some games, fail to be included often in the ESPN bottom ten and generally start moving in a credible direction, and then maybe we can be considered worthy of a second thought in the football world. It's just laughable that even the most hard core UA fan, one rooted in reality, would consider that this program is credible as a desirable D-1 program in the eyes of other conferences.

/Extreme pessimism on/

As college football gets more involved with big money interests and billion dollar broadcasting I really wonder if the deck is not completely stacked against schools that arrived late to the game. How in the hell is UA ever going to compete for quality prospects without playing dirty and/or cheating, how will they attract fans in such an apathetic sports community, how will they get this thing turned around? Have the obviously gorgeous facilities brought in heralded recruits? What to do with a 64 million dollar stadium that attracts 12K per game? Has the new AD opened up the team shop? I just don't see how this program moves up the three (or ten) notches it will need to succeed here.

The train already came through. It's the OSU express and UA missed the train. I hate it too, but it's a fact.

Maybe UA should consider stepping back down to FCS, where the program could be absolutely top notch. Why is UA, which was never ever a football power at the college level, beating its head against the wall twenty years in, trying to force something that may never happen?

[akronkid8]

How old and tired are the predictable "dead horse" comments in many of the threads on ZN? I don't suppose that the same posters who feel compelled to invoke that term, usually including the inane emoticon, ever consider that they are insulting not only the OP but those who respond to the OP? How many original topics can possibly exist in the universe regarding Zips football?

Now, onto the OP's poll. As much as I wish this were a credible D-1 football program, there is no way in hell that UA gets invited to join any other conference. C-USA is too good for the program at this point in time. Every D-1 conference that we would want to have us should have no interest in having us. This is a program that in year two of the new stadium hasn't gotten its poop together enough to open up the team shop that is right out on the street corner. The stadium itself is another boarded up store front? How about this program win some games, fail to be included often in the ESPN bottom ten and generally start moving in a credible direction, and then maybe we can be considered worthy of a second thought in the football world. It's just laughable that even the most hard core UA fan, one rooted in reality, would consider that this program is credible as a desirable D-1 program in the eyes of other conferences.

/Extreme pessimism on/

As college football gets more involved with big money interests and billion dollar broadcasting I really wonder if the deck is not completely stacked against schools that arrived late to the game. How in the hell is UA ever going to compete for quality prospects without playing dirty and/or cheating, how will they attract fans in such an apathetic sports community, how will they get this thing turned around? Have the obviously gorgeous facilities brought in heralded recruits? What to do with a 64 million dollar stadium that attracts 12K per game? Has the new AD opened up the team shop? I just don't see how this program moves up the three (or ten) notches it will need to succeed here.

The train already came through. It's the OSU express and UA missed the train. I hate it too, but it's a fact.

Maybe UA should consider stepping back down to FCS, where the program could be absolutely top notch. Why is UA, which was never ever a football power at the college level, beating its head against the wall twenty years in, trying to force something that may never happen?

i'd rather go 3-9 every year for the rest of my life then have akron drop down to FCS. i would rather go to my old high school teams football game if they were playing FCS teams every game of the year. i'm not trying to down grade the FCS but i'm pretty sure akron is way better then that. all right they had a few losing seasons but under Coach I's direction we're going to be very very good. if not this year or next year it will be the year after that. you can't have a coach come in and try to fit the players that are here to fit into his system (that don't) and expect to be undefeated his first year or second. it's going to take 1 or 2 years but we will be ruling the MAC

[MaxZIP]

That was depressing.

[ZachTheZip]

Maybe UA should consider stepping back down to FCS, where the program could be absolutely top notch. Why is UA, which was never ever a football power at the college level, beating its head against the wall twenty years in, trying to force something that may never happen?

Dropping to FCS would be an unmitigated disaster. The athletic department is set up for mediocrity. If we moved down, we would go from being mediocre in the MAC to mediocre in the MVC. Don't think that being bad at the top level translates to being good at the level below it. Winners win and losers lose, and until we stop being losers, it won't matter what level we play at.

[Zipmeister]

How old and tired are the predictable "dead horse" comments in many of the threads on ZN? I don't suppose that the same posters who feel compelled to invoke that term, usually including the inane emoticon, ever consider that they are insulting not only the OP but those who respond to the OP? How many original topics can possibly exist in the universe regarding Zips football?

I think we should build an on campus football stadium to replace the aging Rubber Bowl. What do you guys think?

[MaxZIP]

How old and tired are the predictable "dead horse" comments in many of the threads on ZN? I don't suppose that the same posters who feel compelled to invoke that term, usually including the inane emoticon, ever consider that they are insulting not only the OP but those who respond to the OP? How many original topics can possibly exist in the universe regarding Zips football?

I think we should build an on campus football stadium to replace the aging Rubber Bowl. What do you guys think?

skip it we should go to FCS football instead of wasting our time.

[Blue & Gold]

Naturally, there are going to be both positives and negatives to both the MAC & C-USA.

Positives:

MAC: natural geographic rivalries, established rivalries, easy road trips to away games.

C-USA: stronger conference, slightly more name recognition.

Negatives:

MAC: lousy conference, waaaaaay over-saturated w/ Ohio schools.

C-USA: no (few?) natural geographic rivals, forget about road trips to away games; airline tickets required for the most part.

Just two thoughts.

1. I have no illusions of UA ever competing for a national championship in football. I don't think anyone does. But I do think UA could be an occassional Top 25 program. That's my dream & what I hope for and if I live to see that day I can die a happy Zips' fan. Thus, I would much, much rather be an occassional Top 25 FBS program than an occassional FCS national champion. And I do think an occassional Top 25 ranking is a realistic goal.

2. I feel that presently we should simply focus on the MAC. Dominate the crappy conference we are in. Become the Boise State of the MAC. If we do that, then we can possibly cross a bridge or two if the opportunity arises. First things first.

We were in the dark ages w/ the Rubber Bowl. Lee Owens had to work with the very worst facilities in all of D-1 football. Think about that for a bit. Let that sink in. We had the very worst facilities in all of D-1 football. The facilities JD had at his disposal were getting much, much better. Now Coach I has some of the finest facilities in all of college football (outside of the Top 15-20 BCS schools.) I think we're finally in a realistic position to begin dominating MAC football.

By the way's:

1. I do enjoy our rivalries w/ K.e.n.t. & Ohio (...and Miami... to a lesser degree). If we chose to do so, we could maintain those rivalries even w/ a move to another conference.

2. I think we should get real friendly w/ Toledo, Buffalo & Temple, as we are all similar universities and make for good rivals and all fit the profile of the "Big East-type" of urban institutions.

P.s.

I also agree with the sentiment of enough with the dead horse comments. This is a freaking Zips sports talk board & there's only a limited number of topics to throw around.

[InTheZone]

I don't see the upside to joining C-USA. Now that Memphis is not a basketball power...

They're not quite dead yet.

Memphis basketball was around long before Calipari, and their massive basketball bankroll & Fed Ex Forum says they won't be "down" long.

Their nationally #1 ranked recruiting class for next season would seem to say that too... They will probably be competing for a national championship again next year. But hey, let's stay in the MAC, where our conference champion wins a postseason game once every 8 years .

Completely agree with CK, if we're lucky enough to get a CUSA invite, we should not only take it but nominate John Buchtel for sainthood... he's met the miracle requirement.